How Dangerous is Rubio?

Even Top Miami Experts Wonder!!
{Friday, April 27th, 2018}

      If you Google-search How Dangerous Is Rubio, the first page that comes up will include this Cubaninsider update but also the following articles:

                "Why Marco Rubio Is So Effective and Dangerous" by the Washington Post.

                 "Marco Rubio's Dangerous Misreading of History" by CNBC.

                  

                 "Rubio, Cruz Scarier Than Trump" by The Atlantic.

                 "Marco Rubio Is Now The Most Dangerous..." by The New Republic.

                  "Why I'm More Worried About Marco Rubio Than Donald Trump" by Vox.

       Those titles are just some on the first page of your Google-search about How Dangerous Is Rubio? And I haven't even mentioned the image above that illustrates a major article by respected journalist Ken Silverstein who concluded that Rubio is "head and shoulders above others in Washington when it comes to corruption and chicanery." AND YES, AMERICA, THIS IS THE MARCO RUBIO THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS PUT IN CHARGE OF AMERICA'S POST-OBAMA CUBAN POLICY!! And, of course, Americans are supposed to be stupid enough and unpatriotic enough to ignore this insult to the United States and to democracy.

     One of America's greatest investigative journalists, Ken Silverstein's definitive, almost-book-length bio of Marco Rubio has never been sued nor, to my knowledge, has it ever been challenged. In fact, the top {#1} Cuban-American journalist and Editorial Writer in Miami who knows Rubio best seems to agree with Ken Silverstein.

Photo courtesy: Pedro Portal

    If there is anybody on this planet who knows how dangerous U. S. Senator Marco Rubio of Miami is, that would probably be Fabiola Santiago. She was born in Matanzas, Cuba, in the spring of 1959 three months after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution had chased the leaders of the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship to U. S. soil, mostly Miami. According to her biography on his own Website, Fabiola spent the summers of her first ten years "digging her feet into the softest sands in the world and frolicking in the bluest beach, Varadero." Then in 1969 her parents took her to Miami. By 1980 Fabiola was a fast-ascending journalist with the Miami Herald. She is now an acclaimed author, the mother of three successful daughters, and a top Editorial Writer for the Miami Herald, Marco Rubio's hometown newspaper. Fiercely critical of Revolutionary Cuba over the years, it seems that Fabiola now has reached the insightful conclusion that Marco Rubio, newly positioned by President Trump as essentially America's new Cuban dictator, is the dire threat not only to Cuba but also to America. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the mainstream U. S. media is not nearly as courageous or as astute regarding Rubio as Fabiola is. And that's why her article is both topical and important in April of 2018.

    Therefore, I believe it is important for Americans to dial up and read Fabiola Santiago's latest Editorial in the Miami Herald entitled: "President Trump Should Engage Cuba's New President, Not Leave Policy to Marco Rubio." The article, from the hometown journalist in Miami who knows Rubio the best, paints the U. S. Senator as a dangerous right-wing extremist and it assails President Trump for turning over America's Cuban policy to such a dangerous individual. Fabiola Santiago thus has both the courage and the insight to make these valid points regarding Trump's decision to appoint Rubio the new Batista-like United States dictator of Cuba:

      "Rubio is all too happy to lead the U. S. and Cuba back to isolation from each other."

       

     "Trump delegated the shaping of U.S.-Cuba policy to his former campaign foe Sen. Marco Rubio of Miami..."

       "Surely Rubio will get the applause of the dwindling ranks of hard-liners in the Cuba Exile who've been fighting without success to change the political course in their homeland for the last 60 years and will go to their graves without shaping strategy."

       "What we don't need is a a Marco Rubio vs. Diaz-Canel Little Cold War."

    "This attitude won't leave Cuba's new President Diaz-Canel any room but to hunker down...and seek new and old alliances with Russia, China, the Middle East and the European Union, which has continued strengthening its relationships with Cuba..."

        "President Trump should engage Cuba's new President, not leave policy to Marco Rubio."

        "It's an ill-suited strategy to squeeze and isolate Cuba at the moment."

        "And we know that before he became a presidential candidate with the need to win Florida, Trump had his eyes on a Trump Tower in Havana and a golf course near Varadero Beach."

     There is much more in Fabiola Santiago's aforementioned article that Americans need to read before, as usual, they sit back on their collective asses and let yet another Republican duo in Washington, this time Trump & Rubio, target the supposed easy-pickings island of Cuba to sate their own economic and/or political greed. Fabiola Santiago is the Cuban-American who rose to become the top Editorial Writer in Marco Rubio's Cuba-obsessed hometown of Miami. But unlike Rubio and his ilk, Fabiola Santiago is concerned with the larger picture, which entails the threat Trump & Rubio represent not just to the island of Cuba but, yes, to America itself.

       A few days ago, Rubio took his Destroy Cuba campaign to the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, where he sought regional support as he rallied the few big-name dissidents that Cuba's 100-person delegation in Lima called "mercenaries."

    The above photo shows Rubio's Destroy Cuba campaign getting applause from the choir in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood at the Manuel Artime Theater, which is a plush building named for a leader of the 1961 Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba that served to make the island's Revolutionary hero Fidel Castro an everlasting Rebel legend. Now in April of 2018 Rubio believes the apathy and tax dollars of propagandized U. S. citizens will enable him to finally get revenge for the 1961 Bay of Pigs USA debacle.

     And the man who has unleashed Marco Rubio on Cuba, President Trump, went to Little Havana in Miami and embraced the huge 1961 Bay of Pigs Brigade 2506 Assault Banner as he shouted obscenities about Revolutionary Cuba to impress what Fabiola Santiago called "the dwindling ranks of Cuban exile hard-liners." All the while knowledgeable and concerned Cuban-Americans in Miami like Ms. Santiago are aware that even an inexperienced, unpredictable, and unpopular President like Trump can say or do anything regarding Cuba and the programmed American people are expected to be too stupid, too afraid, or too unpatriotic to give a damn. After all, as Ms. Santiago suggested, this has been going on practically unheeded for 60 years so why can we expect the current generation of pusillanimous Americans to care if it continues for...say...another 60 years, saddling their own children and grandchildren with a policy that the decent President Obama and the entire world condemned unanimously -- 191-to-0 -- as recently as October of 2016. But, with Rubio & Trump now in Washington, things have worsened considerably today. 

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America's Cuban Absurdities

Dictated by Rubio-like Extremists!!

As It Shames Most Cuban-Americans!!

     Most journalists and newspapers in Florida are afraid to report the truth about U.S.-Cuban relations. But Paul Guzzo and the Tampa Bay Times are long-time, excellent exceptions.

     Yesterday -- April 23rd, 2018 -- the photo above illustrated a major article in the Tampa Bay Times written by its renowned journalist-historian Paul Guzzo. The article is entitled: "Having Cuba in the Name of Your Company Can be a Financial Risk and THERE IS NO SOLUTION." The Tampa building above is headquarters for The Cuba Club, which easily qualified for a $190,000 loan -- TILL the bank was reminded that the word "Cuba" is in the company's title. Then the loan was denied -- TILL the company proved that the ISLAND OF CUBA had nothing to do with the company's name. The city of Tampa has the 3rd largest Cuban-American population in the USA and Cuban-American Vicente Amor, expressing the opinion of most Cuban-Americans, said, "It is ridiculous. Someone needs to do something about this."

     "It is ridiculous. Someone needs to do something about this." Every decent and even slightly brave American and Cuban-American agrees with that Cuban-American comment in the aforementioned Paul Guzzo-Tampa Bay Times article. But Barack Obama has been the only U. S. President since 1959 with the necessary combination of courage, intelligence, and decency to seriously attempt to correct the insult to America and Democracy that garnered a 191-to-0 condemnation of the U. S. in the United Nations during the last year, 2016, of the Obama presidency. But Obama's courage, intelligence, and decency has fallen victim to a U. S. Congress in which right-wing, self-serving, Counter Revolutionary Cuban-Americans have been permitted to dictate America's apoplectic and nefarious Cuban policy, a policy SO ABSURD and UNDEMOCRATIC that no other topic in this very diverse world could possibly attain a 191-to-ZERO unanimity in the United Nations. Yet, the lament by the Cuban-American, Vicente Amor, in the Guzzo-Tampa Bay Times for "someone" to "do something about this" is a very sad commentary for Democracy-lovers like me...and like Tampa's U. S. Congresswoman Kathy Castor.

    Although she was born in Miami, Kathy Castor has represented Tampa in the U. S. Congress. If you didn't know that, it's because the mainstream media is not in the business of reporting about members of Congress from Florida who bravely advocate a sane and decent Cuban policy, which Congresswoman Kathy Castor has done for over a decade. Meanwhile, the mainstream U. S. media is compelled to lavishly report on all the Counter Revolutionary zeal of Miami's members of the U. S. Congress -- Rubio, Ros-Lehtinen, Diaz-Balart, and Curbelo. That has been so, I believe, especially since Miami's top Cuban-American journalist, Emilio Milian, was car-bombed in 1976 for complaining about extreme Miami-based terrorism against totally innocent Cubans. And it's so, I believe, even though MOST CUBAN-AMERICANS EVEN IN MIAMI favor Obama-like and Kathy Castor-like normal relations with Cuba. In the Paul Guzzo-Tampa Bay Times article yesterday, Congresswoman Kathy Castor was quoted by a brave journalist working at a brave newspaper and she reiterated that a sane and decent Cuban policy remains uppermost on her radar. Her quote was: "This has been on my radar. But the only real solution is to repeal the Cuban Embargo."

     But as Congresswoman Kathy Castor and other Democracy-loving Floridians well know, as long as the intimidated, incompetent, or unpatriotic mainstream U. S. media is too afraid to report fairly on Cuban issues, self-serving extremists like Marco Rubio will continue to dictate via the U. S. Congress and all Republican administrations a Cuban policy that has 191-to-0 worldwide unanimous condemnation.

     Her brilliant work at the U. S. State Department alerted Emily Mendrala to the absurdity and indecency of having America's Cuban policy and its Cuban narrative dictated by a mere handful of Cuban-American extremists. Now Emily Mendrala is the Executive Director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas. Each Friday her Cuba Central report on the CDA website provides the best summary of that week's U.S.-Cuban related news. The current posting of her Cuba Central update begins with Senator Marco Rubio's absurd and indecent Cuban directives...and later in that excellent update Emily Mendrala directs her readers to a Miami Herald article written by a famed anti-Castro Cuban-American editorial writer who also assails Rubio.

     As this airplane-pulled banner flying over Senator Marco Rubio's home turf indicates, he is not popular in South Florida except for Little Havana in the heart of Miami. Most of the 2+ million Cuban-Americans favor normal relations with Cuba. Yet, only Counter Revolutionary extremists, it seems, can get elected to the U. S. Congress from Miami. That Miami problem, as with others, is also America's problem.

And by the way:

      For six decades Counter Revolutionary extremists in Miami and in the U. S. Congress try to dictate the Cuban narrative by insisting that Americans are the only people in the world without the freedom to travel to Cuba, lest they form their OWN OPINIONS about the island. In 2017 thanks to President Obama, Cuba's tourism exceeded 4 million for the first time, including over 600,000 Americans. In 2018 with Rubio designated by President Trump as America's new Cuban dictator, the U. S. currently has a "Cuba Travel Warning" in place, a warning that benefits Counter Revolutionary extremists but harms everyone else -- including most Cuban-Americans in Miami and Tampa as yesterday's Tampa Bay Tribune article explained.

      The photo above was taken by Clara Johnson and used to illustrate a major article yesterday -- April 23rd -- in the financial giant Forbes. It's entitled: "Yes, Americans Can Still Travel to Cuba." If you are interested, you may want to dial up that article.

And yes, Cuba's Revolutionary flag still waves.

{In President Diaz-Canel's first full week}

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President Diaz-Canel's First Full Week

A non-Castro President!!!!
{Monday, April 23rd, 2018}

     Cuba's new President may be a non-Castro who was born after the triumph of the Revolution in 1959, but his quotation above is a forceful reminder that President Miguel Diaz-Canel is a Castro-like fierce defender of Fidel's Revolutionary Cuba.

    In fact, as if to send an additional quick message to Washington, as shown here, President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela visited President Miguel Diaz-Canel -- Saturday, April 21st -- at the Revolutionary Palace in Havana. Both Presidents are facing fierce antagonism from both Miami and Washington and both are confronting dire financial problems. Politically, Diaz-Canel is solid as long as foreign-backed coups are avoided but Maduro is trying desperately to survive internal and external political threats in his oil-rich but teetering, money-depleted nation.

Presidents Maduro & Diaz-Canel April 20th.

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Deciphering the New Cuba

An Historic Transition For Sure!!
{Saturday, April 21st, 2018}

      In the past 72 hours, the enigmatic and iconic capital of Havana -- and thus all of Cuba -- has been changed drastically.

      86-year-old Raul Castro has passed Cuba's presidential baton to 57-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel who is quite popular in Cuba.

     Minutes after officially becoming Cuba's first non-Castro leader since 1959, Miguel Diaz-Canel delivered a revelatory half-hour speech to the island's 604-member National Assembly. It revealed that Diaz-Canel is a powerful, effective speaker.

     But most of all, President Miguel Diaz-Canel's very first major televised speech revealed that he is furiously, everlastingly pro-Revolutionary and pro-Sovereignty.

     The photo above best encapsulates the new Big Three in Revolutionary Cuba. Standing is Esteban Lazo Hernandez and right behind him are new President Miguel Diaz-Canel and outgoing President Raul Castro. As the transition shakes out, although there are those who will disagree, the new power structure in Cuba will be in this order: Lazo #1, Diaz-Canel #2, and Castro #3. That is the way the now semi-retired Raul and Esteban crafted the transition and it was/is approved by Miguel.

     The 604-member Cuban National Assembly, or Parliament, ratifies all major decisions in Cuba, including the presidency. The most powerful revolutionaries, the Castro brothers, could dictate their wishes to the Assembly but the retiring President Raul Castro wants the now ultra-powerful ruling body to be the prime dictator of Cuba going forward, stressing the fact that the 604 parliamentarians are elected in fairly democratic municipal processes such as the recent elections held at 24,000 polling places across the island. With that being said, Esteban Lazo has been President of the National Assembly since 2013 and today, at the start of the non-Castro domination, Lazo's power is markedly strengthened. Thus, as shown above, his control of the transitional Assembly this week was paramount and not just symbolic. Also, as Lazo orchestrated the Castro-to-Diaz-Canel presidential transition, this photo correctly foreshadows the even more powerful positions of women.

     So, who is Esteban Lazo, shown here posing April 19th with one of Cuba's outstanding young broadcast journalists, Rosy Amaro Perez. Now 74-years-old, Lazo has been ultra-powerful in Cuba since 1980. Since 2013 he has been President of Cuba's Parliament, the National Assembly. Note his age, 74, and the fact that he has been a very powerful and very visible prime pro-Revolutionary zealot and a favorite of both Castro brothers since 1980. Those two factors, whether self-adorned Cuban experts off the island agree or not, now make Esteban Lazo the most powerful person in Cuba, as authorized by Raul Castro and as approved by Miguel Diaz-Canel. At 74 Lazo is agewise directly between the 86-year-old Raul and the 57-year-old Miguel. To Raul, that was important...along with Esteban's revolutionary zeal and his proven worship of the late Fidel Castro.

    The image above...again whether or not the self-ordained Cuban experts off the island agree or not...is more emblematic of the transition transpiring in Cuba this week than even the three photos above that were taken in the National Assembly as the process was firmly implemented and officially stamped. It was Fidel Castro's Revolution and -- although he died at age 90 on November 25, 2016 -- it is still Fidel Castro's Cuba. So, you should put more stock in this photograph than in what actually occurred this week as Raul Castro's presidency was transferred to Miguel Diaz-Canel. The image above is the way most Cubans on the island today think of Fidel Castro -- their tall and powerful revolutionary icon who weathered all the powerful forces allied against him, except the mortality of age. Before he died, he had dictated to his people that there were to be no statues in his honor, nor any streets or buildings named for him. He vowed that he didn't want "a cult personality" to be associated with his legacy. That dictation, however, has fallen victim to his charisma, yes, but mostly to the Revolution he won, against overwhelming odds, and the Revolutionary Cuba that has survived for 6+ decades AGAINST OVERWHELMING ODDS. So this photo -- Fidel Castro standing tall against ominous dark clouds -- still defines Revolutionary Cuba and that is so even as the historic changes take place.

     This photo shows Cuba's new President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, paying homage to Fidel Castro on November 25th, 2017, which was the first-year anniversary of Fidel's death. Such solemn remembrances of Fidel Castro will be more common during Diaz-Canel's presidency than they were even when Raul Castro was President of Cuba.

     Shown above with his wife waiting in line to vote in the recent municipal elections, President Diaz-Balart happens to be very popular on the island. He gradually attained his power in Villa Clara province far from the hectic environs of Havana. An electrical engineer, even when his job ascendancy afforded him a free government car, he preferred bicycles and motorcycles, often using those modes of travel to visit rural areas to check on the welfare of Cubans, especially children and the elderly. He became Cuba's powerful Education Minister and then, as he was groomed for the presidency during the previous five years, he was President Raul Castro's First Vice President. In his youth Diaz-Canel was a huge fan of the Beatles and today he remains a huge fan of the Rolling Stones. And that's why, when U. S. President Obama was showing friendship to Cuba, Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones honored the Cuban people with a rollicking free concert in Havana. Most Cubans, including the crucial and restive young-adults, support Diaz-Canel. As an educator, he is proud of Revolutionary Cuba's totally free educations through college and totally free health care for every Cuban. And as Cuba's President, Diaz-Canel will be less inclined than Raul Castro was to negotiate with the United States. Indeed, Diaz-Canel did not support Raul Castro's historic detente with President Obama, which practically succeeded in normalizing relations between the two nations although the Little Havana/Miami-dominance of the U. S. Congress dictates the most harshest assaults on Cuba, such as the embargo that has existed since 1962. Even at the height  of the Castro-Obama engagements, Diaz-Canel warned Raul Castro, "You are dealing with a 2-party system and a Congress locked-in against Cuba. And with the next Republican U. S. president, their interminal war against us will resume."

    Before his ten years as Cuba's President ended this week, Raul Castro fully comprehended the wisdom of Miguel Diaz-Canel's warnings about the USA's 2-party system, its locked-in Congress, and the inevitability of the next Republican U. S. president. The photo above reveals just how correct Diaz-Canel was in 2016. The 7-story U. S. Embassy in Havana was reopened by presidents Castro & Obama for the first time since 1961 and it was fully staffed and operational under Obama. But the startling U. S. election of the Republican Donald Trump as President quickly resulted in what we have today: Huge locks on the doors have shut-down the huge U. S. embassy building in Havana, to Raul Castro's dismay and to the dismay of the millions of Cuban-Americans, including two million in the Miami area, who benefited from its reopening. But as for Cuba's new President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, he is far less concerned than Raul Castro of having a functional U. S. Embassy in Havana because Diaz-Canel believes: "The time we waste dealing with the U. S. can better be spent dealing with nations friendly to us. In the end, our dealings with the U. S. will, in any case, be defending ourselves and our sovereignty. While dealing with other nations will not only help our defense but also help our economy, which is also our lifeblood."

    With that hard-earned and well-educated Anti-American mindset, Cuba's First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel has traveled to important capitals around the world polishing his ties to world leaders, such as China's omnipotent President Zi as shown above. Also, as pointed out April 19th by USA Today, Diaz-Canel has already "hosted meetings in Havana with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and leaders of Mexico, Spain, Germany, India, Pakistan, El Salvador, South Africa, Portugal, the United Arab Emirates and the Vatican." And also the USA Today reported these facts: "He led government delegations to Russia, China, Japan, North Korea, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Angola, Bolivia and the 2016 Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States." In other words, Cuba's new President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, is hoping to be friends with all nations EXCEPT, of course, THE UNITED STATES of America.

      And now, I will stick with my first major observation, which is that this National Assembly photo April 19th-2018 best defines the new Cuba and Cuba's new Big Three in this order: 74-year-old Estevan Lazo #1, President Miguel Diaz-Canel #2, and semi-retired Raul Castro #3. That is the configuration that Raul Castro constructed and that's what Cuba now has. If the "experts" disagree with that analysis, they are wrong.

      If you expanded Cuba's new Hierarchy to a Big Four, you would need to include Ana Mari Machado.

        If you expanded Cuba's new Hierarchy to a Big Five, it would have to include Ana Teresa Igarza Martinez.

      If you expanded the new Cuban hierarchy to a Big Six, you would have to include Miriam Brito Sorroca.

      As of today there is no Big Seven in the newly re-configured Cuban Hierarchy, but keep an eye on fast-rising student leader Mirthia Onis. A loud little lady, Mirthia was Cuba's most volatile defender last week at the Summit of the Americas in Peru. Her fierce love for Fidel, the Revolution, and Cuba's sovereignty was already well known. Mirthia's firmness has resonance on the island: "If the empire ever overthrows our government, the next day a revolution that Fidel would be proud of will begin."

    And so -- as of April 20th, 2018 -- Revolutionary Cuba's sovereign flag is still waving in the warm Caribbean breezes.

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Dawn of Cuba's New Era

A Revolution in Flux!!

Photo courtesy: Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters.

     The photo above taken yesterday -- April 18, 2018 -- marks a milestone for the historic Cuban Revolution. It shows Raul Castro and other elderly revolutionary icons presiding over their last Cuban National Assembly as a new day dawns.

     Yesterday the 86-year-old Raul Castro was replaced as Cuba's President by 57-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel, a non-Castro born after the Revolutionary victory.

      While the Castros' light and fame will never dim on the island of Cuba, at least as long as it remains a sovereign nation, it changed drastically in July of 2006 when Fidel became seriously ill and remained so till he died at age 90 on November 25, 2016. And now with Raul Castro retiring as President and hoping to at least semi-retire from politics, Cuba's new President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, has a monumental task trying to maneuver away from both the island's financial quagmire and another dangerously anti-Cuban Republican President in Washington. Prior to his death, Fidel had ordered that he did not want a personality cult to be built up around his name, and thus there will be no statues of him and no streets or buildings named for him. But as Raul well knows, at least as long as Cuba is independent, it is Fidel's legacy that will stir future pots that will continue to boil and perhaps finally explode.

     Perhaps the most important advice, or orders, that Raul Castro passed along to his presidential successor Miguel Diaz-Canel regarded three particular countries that will not hurt and may well help Cuba -- China, Russia, and Vietnam. When Raul hosted Vietnamese Communist leader Nguyen Phu Trong, above, it is reported by insiders that Raul asked Vietnam to "guide" soon-to-be President Miguel Diaz-Canel in the creation of a Vietnamese-style market economy. Phu then told Raul that Cuba first had to ditch its complicated, confusing dual-peso currency and have just one. Raul reluctantly agreed and so, it seems, has Diaz-Canel.

     In secret, on the phone, and then in person Cuban President Raul Castro eagerly worked with American President Barack Obama to normalize relations, culminating in the reopening of embassies in Havana and Washington for the first time since 1961. But the Republican Trump succeeded Obama and today the doors to the U. S. Embassy in Havana, once fully-staffed by Obama, are now locked shut with really huge locks. In all other areas, the transition from Obama-to-Trump ended the last great chance for Cuba and the United States to normalize relations. On a secret audio tape released by a dissident, Cuba's new President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, among other anti-American things, said, "Capitalism cannot be trusted, not even a little bit."

     For the record, this photo captured the moment in the Cuban National Assembly yesterday when outgoing President Raul Castro anointed new President Miguel Diaz-Canel. The contrasting expressions appropriately exuded tiredness and euphoria.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

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